EU expects new agreement with Kazakhstan in 2015
By Sara Rajabova
The European Union expects to sign new enhanced agreement on partnership and cooperation with Kazakhstan 2015, said Edgar Rinkevich, foreign minister of Latvia, which currently presides over the EU.
“We discussed the content and the possible time of signing, with regard to the extended agreement on partnership and cooperation. Both parties intend to prepare to sign the agreements as soon as possible,” RIA Novosti quoted Rinkevich as saying.
The EU-Kazakhstan enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement was initiated in Brussels on January20. This agreement will greatly facilitate stronger political and economic relations between Kazakhstan and the EU.
The agreement will also increase the flow of trade, services and investment between the parties and will contribute to Kazakhstan's political and social development.
Rinkevich noted that there are some issues that are legal and technical, but not political, expressing hope that they will be able to sign an agreement this year.
“I will not name the month and day, but I think I can speak on behalf of my colleagues in the EU that have an interest to prepare and sign an agreement in 2015,” Rinkevich said in a meeting with Yerlan Idrisov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister.
Idrisov, for his part, noted that Kazakhstan has invited the President of the EC, Jean-Claude Juncker to visit the country to sign an agreement.
“It is a comprehensive document covering 29 areas in which the EU and Kazakhstan agreed to cooperate in the fields including issues of regional and global security to the rule of law and nation-building,” he said.
The European Union and Kazakhstan announced last October that they had agreed on a new “partnership and cooperation” pact, a relatively modest deal that highlights the bloc’s scaled-down options regarding its eastern neighbors.
Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian partner to have concluded an enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement with the EU. The new agreement will replace the partnership and cooperation agreement which has been in force since 1999 and will give EU – Kazakhstan relations a new up-to-date and stronger foundation, according to the EU.
Kazakhstan with its 18 million people and large oil reserves attempts to draw closer to Europe without upsetting Russia. Its government has adopted a so-called “Path to Europe,” but it joined a Russian-led economic union.
EU officials have repeatedly emphasized that the Kazakhstan deal wouldn’t affect that country’s agreements with Russia nor its status within the economic union. European leaders said the Kazakhstan deal proves countries don’t have to choose between ties with the EU and Russia.
Over the past decades, the EU has become Kazakhstan's first trading partner and first foreign investor, representing over half of total FDI in Kazakhstan. Bilateral trade amounts to above € 31 billion, from which € 24 billion is Kazakhstan's exports, notably oil, while about € 7.5 billion is EU exports to Kazakhstan, mainly manufactured goods, machinery and equipment.
--
Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @SaraRajabova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz